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MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Rod Isaacson, Council Members Catherine Dodgens, Darrell Hale and Marlene Bork MEMBERS ABSENT: Council Member Terry Leuenberger OTHERS PRESENT: City Recorder Toni Thompson, Utility Manager Lee German, Fire Chief Richard "Vince" Dodgens, Planning Commission Members JoAnn Lucas, Casey Carroll, Dan Martin, Jim Poston and Richard Harms, Donna Harms, Beverly Hale, Oregon State Forestry Representatives Angie Johnson, Keith Shollenberger and Mark, Time Peters, Joe Stocker and Sharon Ritchy, Myrna Clarke, Randy Joseph, Neal Bork, and Leland and Nancy Myers The meeting was called to order by Mayor Isaacson at 7:00 p.m. The pledge of allegiance was recited by those present. CONSENT AGENDA Minutes of November 13, 2007 meeting - JoAnn Lucas had a correction regarding the minutes of the November meeting. She did not intend to say the workshop with Planning was "unethical", she felt that wording was not correct. JoAnn checked and Oregon law requires that all meetings (including workshops) have an agenda and be posted so that the public knows what is going to be discussed. It was felt by Council that the workshop was adequately posted and the agenda spoke to the things that were going to be discussed. There was no specific agenda as there were no specific items, only items of interest to either Planning or Council. After discussion, Catherine made a motion to accept the minutes of the meeting with the comments noted. The motion was seconded and all were in favor. Minutes of November 27, 2007 workshop - Marlene made a motion to accept the minutes of the workshop. The motion was seconded and all were in favor. Bills to be Paid - Marlene had a question about what OAWU stood for. This is the Oregon Association of Water Users and is a group that we belong to that helps when we have questions regarding water or sewer issues. Question on Capmark bill? Capmark is the holder of our water bonded debt for the two small issues - one from 1969 and one from 1973. These were previously with GMAC, but Capmark is now the one we pay. These issues will both be paid off before too long - one in 2009 and one in 2014. Question on the payment for pipe as a line improvement - this was paying for the City's portion of the line that Cary Clarke ran from New Street in Gold Rush RV Park to his home. The City paid for valves at each intersection and a 20 foot piece of pipe to start down the street on each side. This was not part of the line extension, as it was something that the City wanted to benefit us, so it is a line improvement that we pay for. Catherine made a motion to pay all the bills except the one for Neal Bork. The motion was seconded and all were in favor, with Rod abstaining. Catherine made a motion to pay Neal's bill. The motion was seconded and all were in favor with Marlene abstaining. Since we had guest present who were to make a presentation, Rod asked them if they would like to go first. Angie Johnson from the Oregon Forestry Department came up and explained Senate Bill 360. There will be another informational meeting January 3rd at Powder River Rural Fire Department. Then, January 9,2008 there will be a public hearing to take testimony regarding the items necessitated by this bill. Sumpter is in a class of land that comes under Senate Bill 360. A committee was appointed to look at lands in our area and see which ones met the criteria of SB 360. The committee consisted of Keith Shollenberger, appointed by the State Forestry Dept., Randy Joseph, Chair, appointed by the Baker County Board of Commissioners, Tom Sanders, appointed by Baker County Commissioners, Richard Smith, Fire Marshall, appointed by the Oregon Fire Marshall's office, and Daryl Legget, appointed by Baker County. Angie went over the history of the act which came out of some very costly fires that occurred in forested areas with significant residential developments. It was felt by the legislature that homeowners needed to invest in protecting their properties from fire. The area that is affected is called the Forestland Urban Interface zone. This is a classification of lands that have certain criteria in order to be included in this class. If a homeowner is in this classification of lands, then there are certain standards they will be held to and process they must go through in order to certify their lands as having met this criteria. Angie then explained the certification process. If a homeowner does not meet the standards, then they would be responsible for extraordinary fire fighting costs if: 1) the fire started on their property 2) property does not meet the standards for having been cleaned up, and 3) the fire spread was related to the failure of the homeowner to comply with the standards. Once the hearings are held, the classification of lands will be looked at again and once that is done and the areas are set, property owners in those areas will have two years to certify their property. Randy explained that basically they are asking property owners to be good neighbors and be responsible for cleaning up their own area. Fire Plan money was discussed and Mark noted that there is still some available for hiring someone to clean your property. The ODF also has pole saws that they rent out. Anyone wanting additional information should contact one of the committee members or attend one of the upcoming meetings or go on Oregon.gov for more information. The meeting then went back to the Agenda as listed. UTILITY MANAGER Lee reported that he had worked on a problem up at the diversion structure. He made some adjustments and things are working fine. He went out with the plow truck the first day it snowed and the motor blew up. The old motor is now out and the new one is here. Cary Clarke has been plowing the streets for us. Lee looked at the drainage issue up by Catherine's. We are not doing anything right now due to the weather, but we will check on it in the spring. There is a spring over by Steve and Casey's that is causing us some problems. We will try to figure out a solution. FIRE DEPARTMENT Vince reported on the workshop that had been held with City Council. Covered a lot of good topics and got some good ideas. Tim Peters has been appointed Training Officer on a 2 month probationary trial basis. Things are going well right at the moment and meetings are busy. The parade went well and the department threw out a lot of candy. Marlene noted that Van Christensen also donated candy for Santa to toss. PLANNING COMMISSION Planning met on November 15 and discussed potential ODOT grants. They were talking about sidewalks and felt that sometime of composite sidewalk would be more pleasing in appearance than an asphalt pathway. The reasons for a path were discussed and the fact that it is possible to make concrete or even asphalt appear like other materials. JoAnn stated that Planning would like to have a workshop with the public after the 1st of the year. The first choice would be in the afternoon, but they will let everyone know. They discussed a couple of places that appear to be fire hazards and wonder if anything can be done about them. Planning discussed the laundry that Sumpter Pines RV has put in. They approved changing the application from personal to commercial for the laundry. They feel a "to do" list would be a big help to people when they come in for a zoning permit or other help. JoAnn also mentioned that there will be more training coming up in May, 2008, from LOC, but does not have the specifics right now. There next meeting will be December 20,2007. The SHAC committee was discussed. The fact that it was never intended to be part of the Planning Commission, but a stand alone committee. It appears that there are a number of people who are interested in the concept, so it appears to be time to reinstate SHAC. Make-up of the SHAC committee was discussed: 1 from City Council, 1 from Planning, 2 property owners in the CR zone and 1 more. Catherine made a motion to once again have SHAC as a stand alone committee. The motion was seconded and all were in favor. Rod asked Casey to post notices about the need for members on the SHAC committee. Discussion ensued on changing the name of the committee. That can be done at a later date. OLD BUSINESS A. - Baker County Nuisance Ordiance - Discussed the history of the ordinance, whether or not we could make any changes to it and still have the County enforce (the answer is "no"). Rod noted that Martin Leuenberger is working on changes that he plans to take to the County. Rod believes that we should adopt the ordinance and the we can amend it if something else comes up, however he would like to table it for tonight as Terry and Martin are not present. Catherine said she would like to see it pass, but she understands waiting till they are present. Marlene feels that they have had enough time to make any changes, but is okay with waiting. More discussion ensued and it was noted that the ordinance cannot be passed in one reading, so consensus was to vote on it tonight and discuss waiting at the next meeting. Rod said that he personally still felt it should be tabled out of consideration, but understood and was in favor of it being enacted. Marlene made a motion to read Ordinance 2007-5 - Baker County Nuisance Ordinance by title only. Darrell seconded the motion and all were in favor. Rod asked Catherine to read the title of the Ordinance. Catherine reads the "title" and then the letter that needs to be written to the County noting that we have accepted this ordinance when or if that occurs. B. - Ordinance 2007-4 - James Howard request to vacate an alley behind his property on Cracker Street and a portion of Riverside Avenue that abuts said alley. Marlene made a motion to read Ordinance 2007-4 for the second time by title only. The motion was seconded and all were in favor. As this was the second reading of Ordinance 2007-4 and there were no objections, Marlene made a motion to adopt said ordinance. The motion was seconded and all were in favor. Ordinance 2007-4 is adopted. NEW BUSINESS A. Donate Vehicles - Rod noted that it had been discussed at the workshop to possibly donate the old City pickup - 1992 Dodge and the old QRU to the auto shop class at Baker High School. Catherine made a motion to donate the two vehicles to Baker High School. The motion was seconded and all were in favor. Switching the tires was discussed if it looked like there were better ones on the two vehicles than what were extra in the shop. Will check on this. B. Citizen of the Year - Leland Myers was present to receive the Citizen of the Year Award that had been voted on last meeting. Leland was presented the plaque for outstanding dedication and all the time and effort he has given to the City. Leland expressed his appreciation of the award. PUBLIC INPUT Marlene asked Council about the snowmobile club using The Grounds for New Years Eve and on January 11th. New Years Eve will be the chili feed and "light show" and the play day with be on the 11 th. Council had no problem with this. Myrna Clarke asked about the roof over the slab up at The Grounds? It is a work in progress. The guys are doing a great job after finally getting started. We were delayed due to the need to engineer the structure, make some retrofits, etc., but now they are moving right along. The rafters are nearly up, then sheeting and then metal. The structure had all its permits when it was started, but rules have changed since then and so that necessitated the engineering and retrofits. It will just make for a stronger structure. The remained of the the project (water, electricity) will be done in the spring when weather permits. There being no further business, Marlene made a motion to adjourn. The motion was seconded and all were in favor. The meeting was adjourned at 8: 12 p.m. ATTEST: Toni L. Thompson, City Recorder Sumpter City Council and City Council Minutes? 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